1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for selecting an output image candidate from among multiple input image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image data captured using a digital camera is normally recorded on a memory card installed in the digital camera. Because the image data captured by the digital camera can be easily deleted after it is captured, the user can take photos with little concern, and because modern memory cards have increased in capacity to the point where over 100 large image data can be recorded on a single memory card, the user can record an extremely large number of images on a memory card.
Where the image data recorded on a memory card is to be printed and distributed to others, it often occurs that an image on which a human face is captured is printed. In this case, the user must display the image data recorded on the memory card on the digital camera or on the display unit of a printing apparatus and select from among these image data the image(s) having the best color balance for the human face region. As the number of image data recorded on the memory card increases, this task of selection becomes increasingly burdensome.
Accordingly, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-10179, for example, a technology is disclosed in which following analysis of the image data, an image having the smallest amount of image shake is selected and recommended to the user as a printed image. In addition, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-358522, a technology in disclosed in which face regions are detected in the images and the user's selection of the best-looking image is aided by the display of enlargements of sections thereof that include face regions.
However, in the above Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-10179, while images having poor capture quality can be deleted, this cannot be done until the images having captured face regions are selected. Moreover, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-358522, with respect to images having a face region, because all images are displayed regardless of the size or position of the face, the user must identify images that will not look good when printed and are therefore unsuitable for selection, such as images in which the face region is extremely small.